Hero of Alexandria’s aeolipile
In his Pneumatica, Hero of Alexandria described the aeolipile, a sphere set spinning by jets of steam — the earliest recorded steam engine — together with many other devices worked by air, water and steam.
- Date
- between 50 and 100exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Alexandriatoday: Alexandria, Egypt · Middle East and Egypt
- Participants
- Hero of Alexandria
- Threads
- Middle East and Egypt (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Aeolipile; Hero’s engine; Геронов шар; Pneumatica; Пневматика
Hero, a mathematician and engineer who probably taught at the Museum of Alexandria (some of his writings read like lecture notes), wrote on mechanics, measurement and automata: the Pneumatica, Automata, Mechanica, Metrica and Dioptra. Among his devices were a machine that dispensed a set amount of water for ablutions when a coin was dropped into it — one of the earliest known vending machines — and a wind-wheel that worked an organ, the first recorded machine driven by the wind. His name is also borne by the formula for the area of a triangle from the lengths of its sides.
Hero’s dates are uncertain. His Dioptra mentions a lunar eclipse that Otto Neugebauer identified with the eclipse of 13 March 62, so he is usually placed in the second half of the 1st century AD; the identification is not certain, and a 2nd-century date is not ruled out.
Connections
Same place
- Ptolemy’s Geographyc. 150 · Middle East and Egypt
- Ptolemy’s Almagestc. 150 · Middle East and Egypt
- Battle of the Nile1–3 August 1798 · Middle East and Egypt
Adjacent events in the thread
- First Jewish–Roman War66 – between 73 and 74 · Middle East and Egypt
- Roman annexation of Nabataea106 · Middle East and Egypt
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Pliny the Elder’s Natural History77
- Eruption of Vesuviusbetween 24 August and 1 November 79
- Inauguration of the Colosseum80
- Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Romebetween 64 and 68
- Nero crowns Tiridates I in Rome66
+ 3 events
Eastern Europe
- Plautius Silvanus lifts the Scythian siege of Chersonesusbetween 61 and 66
- The Alans appear on the Don and in the North Caucasusbetween 50 and 72
- Roman–Bosporan War45–49
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200
Balkans and Anatolia
- Domitian’s Dacian Warbetween 85 and 86 – 89
- Dioscorides’ De materia medicabetween 50 and 70
- Missionary journeys of Paulc. 46 – between 57 and 58
- Trajan’s Dacian Wars101–106
- Plutarch’s Parallel Livesc. 96 – c. 120
Africa
- Nero’s expedition to the sources of the Nilebetween 61 and 62
- Adulis and Aksum in the Periplus40s … 70s
- Temple of Apedemak at Naqabetween 1 BC and AD 70
Central and Northern Asia
- Ban Chao’s campaigns in the Tarim Basin73–102
- Battle of Ikh Bayan and the Yanran inscription89
- Ban Chao repels a Kushan army90
- The burials of Tillya Tepe (the Bactrian Gold)between 16 and 100
- Gan Ying’s mission to Da Qin (Rome)97
+ 2 events
South Asia
- Kushans conquer Gandhara and Taxilabetween 50 and 70
- Apostle Thomas in India (tradition)52 (?)
- Gautamiputra Satakarni defeats Nahapanabetween 71 and 130
- Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikameduc. 30 BC – c. 250
- Gandharan art: the first images of the Buddhabetween 30 BC and AD 100
East Asia
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Founding of Funan: Kaundinya and Queen Liuyebetween 1 and 100
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Sa Huỳnh culturec. 1000 BC – c. 200
North America
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Latin America
- Monte Albán II: the Zapotec state expandsc. 100 BC – c. 200
- Emergence of the Moche culturec. 100
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
- Preclassic Maya collapse: El Mirador is abandonedc. 100 – c. 250
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800